Blow to Nitish Kumar as 5 of 6 MLAs from JD(U) join BJP in Manipur

New Delhi, Sep 03: In a jolt to JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar in Manipur, Five MLAs of the party joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur on Friday. The statement issued by Manipur Assembly Secretary K Meghajit Singh said that the Speaker was pleased to accept the merger of five JD(U) MLAs with the BJP under the tenth schedule of the Constitution.

The move by the MLAs comes weeks after Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP and joined forces with Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and other parties, displacing the BJP from the co-pilot's seat in Bihar.

The JD(U) had won six of the 38 constituencies it had contested in the assembly elections held in March this year.

The JD(U) MLAs who joined the BJP are Kh Joykishan, N Sanate, Md Achab Uddin, former DGP L M Khaute and Thangjam Arunkumar. Khaute and Arunkumar had previously sought to contest the assembly polls on BJP tickets but joined the JD(U) after being denied candidature by the saffron party.

The only legislator who did not join the BJP is Mohammed Nasir, who was elected from the Lilong constituency.